Since my last grinder was about 8 years old with no maintainence whatsoever, I was wondering if I need to clean my new grinder? Besides blowing out the burrs, do I need to perform routine maintainence?

Have a look:
Cleaning a Mazzer Mini

mitch236 wrote: I was wondering if I need to clean my new grinder?

I dunno. If it's empty, what does it smell like? Like fresh ground coffee? That smell we love and brag to our friends about, giving that alone as the reason why we're so whacky? Nope, yer fine.
Or, does it smell like that coffeepot at work at 4 pm, still chugging away at the dregs that have been there since someone came in to make coffee at 7 AM? If it smells old, harsh, rancid, or just bitter as all get out, even a little bit, there's your answer. Clean it.
We spent about thirty thousand years depending on our nose to tell us a whole lotta very important stuff. Most people don't even understand what their noses are trying to tell them anymore.

+1 on above posts...

I'd add that a frequent visit by a shop vac does wonders for grinders and takes very little time. If you find it inconvenient to lug the big boy up from the basement or in from the garage, drop $25 on the small one at Lowes - It'd probably be your cheapest coffee accessory. Great for cleaning Cheerios out the car seats too.

As far as the full-on cleaning, do an experiment:

Use the grinder for a little while... a week, 2 weeks, a month... you pick. Whenever your senses or instincts tell you its time to clean.
The morning you decide to clean, pull your best shot.
Disassemble and clean thoroughly, then reassemble and pull another shot (with the same coffee).
Did you taste, smell, or see a difference? If so you waited too long. Make a note to clean earlier next time.

Repeat the experiment at progressively earlier cleaning intervals until you notice little to no difference in the before and after. Ideally, that's when you ought to clean - before it gets dirty enough to affect your espresso.

That said, there's nothing wrong with cleaning more often... its kinda fun after all, and is great for your coffee.

Psyd wrote:I dunno. If it's empty, what does it smell like? Like fresh ground coffee? That smell we love and brag to our friends about, giving that alone as the reason why we're so whacky? Nope, yer fine.
Or, does it smell like that coffeepot at work at 4 pm, still chugging away at the dregs that have been there since someone came in to make coffee at 7 AM? If it smells old, harsh, rancid, or just bitter as all get out, even a little bit, there's your answer. Clean it.
We spent about thirty thousand years depending on our nose to tell us a whole lotta very important stuff. Most people don't even understand what their noses are trying to tell them anymore.

I love this advice, it seems to make complete sense! Maybe I just overthink things sometimes when the solution is so simple!!

BradyButler wrote:As far as the full-on cleaning, do an experiment:...

Brady, the blind A/B boys are gonna be all over you for that.

Seriously, mark the current position with a Sharpie pressed against the upper carrier threads where they exit the body to get an EXACT reference point.

Grind a couple of sacrificial shots before the post clean eval shot to dust things up a bit.

BradyButler wrote:The morning you decide to clean, pull your best shot.

I'm still trying to do that!!!!

Mitch, you've gotten some great advice here. Simply put: you have to clean everything: espresso machine, espresso grinder, portafilters, baskets, shower screen, dispersion block, steam wand . . . the list goes on.

Cheers,
Jason

I'm always obsessive about cleaning my espresso machine but in the 8 years I owned the Mini, I never cleaned it. Since I've been hanging here, I've seen pictures of grinders being cleaned. I never really thought about it before. The work never ends!!!